THE RED HEDGEHOG, close by Highgate Tube, opened its doors on Wednesday 7 December 2006.
The name was inspired by the 19th century Viennese coffee house, Zum Roten Igel, frequented by Brahms (who obsessively refused to eat or drink anywhere else) . A famous lithograph shows him striding out in his top hat with a tiny red hedgehog at his heels.
The cofee house was also a regular watering hole for Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and others (Beethoven rehearsed at the top of the building) and the place is referred to in musical correspondence throughout the years in relation to many a musical figure of the period.
The Red Hedgehog is grateful to concert pianist James Lisney for suggesting the name, which has inevitably already featured in pub quizzes.